Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Hey, do you think Heather will really join the group?” Astrid wondered aloud.

She sat atop the Clubhouse’s round wooden table, idly sharpening the edge of her axe against a flat river stone. Hiccup hummed uncertainly in response, biting his lip in concentration. His charcoal pencil scratched lightly against his map, and the early evening wind whistled outside.

“I mean… it’d be nice, wouldn’t it? It would certainly make me feel better,” Hiccup answered slowly, not looking up from his work. Astrid could practically see the multiple cogs of thought turning in his mind at once. “I know Heather’s more than capable, but it still worries me that she’s been all on her own out there.”

She figured as much. There wasn’t any force under the sun that could stop Hiccup from worrying about the people he cared for, it was in his ‘mother hen’ nature. In the beginning, it had taken Astrid some time to lay down her Viking pride, and unlearn the idea that his concern meant he was underestimating her. She had her suspicions that Heather was struggling with the same thing.

Astrid knew now that it was a nice thing to be cared for. Hiccup was a stubborn worrywart, and the best friend she could’ve asked for.

“Of course, that’s not to mention that she’d be a great help around here,” he added on as an afterthought.

“And her presence would increase our group's average number of brain cells,” Astrid contributed, snickering to herself. Hiccup huffed out a laugh that shook his shoulders.

“Yeah, that too.”

Hiccup paused, turning around the map he’d been working on and sliding it across the table to Astrid. He always wordlessly pushed things to her whenever he wanted her opinion on whatever he was working on, since she had a reputation for brutal honesty.

“Thoughts? Does this look alright so far?”

The fire pit coated the clubhouse in a warm light; Hiccup’s skin seemed to glow a honey golden, and his brown freckles stood out against his cheeks, his nose and the tips of his ears. His green eyes attentively watched her, eagerly awaiting her opinion.

She put her axe down on the table, leaning on her arm towards him and peering down at the large cut of paper. The island names were written in blue and red ink, correlating to whether they were safe supply islands, or frequented by hunters. Smart.

“Looks fine to me. That’s a great idea, Hiccup.”

“Thanks! I thought it might be handy to have a guide pinned somewhere in here, but I was worried the colour coding wasn’t intuitive,” he explained, reaching over to pull it back to himself and continue copying over the surrounding islands from his notebook. Astrid opted to quietly watch him work, feeling something close to contentment.

It was just the two of them sitting by the fire; a rare occurrence, as of late. Things had been hectic on the Edge, and the responsibilities on Hiccup’s shoulders seemed to pile up without end. If Astrid had to trick the twins into a wild goose chase on the other side of the island, and subsequently resort to bribery when they saw straight through her, to finally get some alone time with him– then that was no one’s business but her own.

At the very least, Snotlout and Fishlegs were busy bothering Heather for the moment. Speaking of which…

“You didn’t technically answer me before. Do you think she’ll stay?” she pointed out, repeating her question. Astrid had an idea of what he’d say, but she wanted to hear his thoughts anyway. She’d say she knew Heather pretty well, but Hiccup was always the emotionally perceptive one between them.

Hiccup’s face unconsciously twisted in a grimace, and she bit back a smile. He was always so expressive and animated, laughably dramatic without even trying.

“Yeahhh… Ah, I don’t know, Astrid,” he admitted, exhaling out a sigh. He took a break from the map for a moment, putting his pencil down and dedicating his attention to the conversation. “She’s very… independent. It sounds like she’s going through a lot with the whole Dagur thing, and I just don’t know if she’ll let us help. And then there’s the Windshear problem…”

She nodded along thoughtfully. Those were all good points. Though it seemed like Heather wanted to join, it was more complicated than that. Hiccup could be like that, too. Complicated. They both seemed to have such large scale problems, ingrained in them for years until the point where logical solutions and simple reasoning had no place.

It was a delicate, sensitive situation– Astrid was never any good at those.

“I’m confident I can make progress with Windshear, but I’m worried that if we can’t make it fast enough, Heather will feel like they don’t fit in,” Hiccup continued, furrowing his brows. It was equally as telling about his own issues.

“You can’t control how Windshear will react, you know that. So don’t start with that thing you do.”

“What ‘thing’?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow. Astrid was so glad he asked.

“You know, the one where you take personal responsibility for a situation out of your control and inevitably blame yourself if anything goes wrong?” she cheerfully informed him. Hiccup’s face scrunched up in protest.

“I do not!”

“Oh no, you do,” Astrid confidently assured him, this was an argument he had no hope of winning. Hiccup wildly gestured his hands around in disbelief.

“Name one time I’ve–”

“The Nadder migration problem that had nothing to do with us?”

“Okay, that time I could’ve realised that our retaliations against the hunters would cause them to move the locations of their bases and–”

“Heather being put in danger as a result of her choices, the ones you had no say in?”

“But I should’ve known Viggo was onto her and pulled her out of there sooner–”

Astrid stared him down, unimpressed. She waited in judgemental silence for him to reevaluate his own logic. He did, sheepishly ducking his head in a nonverbal admission.

“Oh, and don’t forget the weather, and every single hurt dragon ever, and also…”

“Okay, I get it, you’re right!” Hiccup groaned in defeat, hiding his head in his arms. Astrid smugly shrugged, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of the table.

“And that’s only things that came up yesterday. I’d need weeks to go through the rest.”

“Remind me to never disagree with you,” he joked, already having long forgotten his map work and simply leaning his chin on his arms, playfully smiling back at her.

“Sure, I can do that,” Astrid nonchalantly agreed. Hiccup pointedly rolled his eyes. “Careful, I hear your face could be stuck like that one day.”

She should really start a tally for how many times he rolled his eyes in a day. They could even pin it up in the Clubhouse. There would probably be a betting pool, and Astrid would obviously win.

“Have you ever known that to happen to literally anybody?” he dryly pointed out. Astrid hummed.

“Well, no. But you’re you. You’re different.”

Hiccup barked out a surprised laugh. His eyes were crinkled in bright amusement, so she could tell he wasn’t really upset. Despite being physically a little slimmer than the rest of them, Hiccup had thicker skin than anyone on Berk. He knew what she meant and never took offence, no matter how bluntly or rudely she said it, and… she appreciated that. More than he probably knew.

“Should I take that as a compliment?” He said, the remains of laughter still echoing in his voice.

Yes, she thought.

He was clever, quick witted, and he thought of things no one else had or would. He was caring and funny, two qualities that Viking men often desperately lacked. He was awkward, and weird, and crazy, and her life would be so boring and stupid without him. Hiccup was different from everyone else, so it only made sense that he held a place in her life like none other.

“Hmmmm, depends on the day,” Astrid said instead, hoping he didn’t notice the unsteady waver of her voice. “I suppose you can, if you want.”

“Ouch, I’m wounded, Milady,” he bantered, tipping back in his chair and dramatically placing his hand over his heart. “How will I ever recover?”

“I’m pretty sure Snotlout could give you a lesson in rejection? He’s pretty experienced,” she offered with false sincerity, and this time, Hiccup’s distaste was absolutely real. He looked nearly repulsed by the idea, and she couldn’t say she blamed him.

“Let’s not go quite that far.”

“You don’t want me to ask him?” Astrid pushed cheekily. “I’m sure he’d be more than happy to share his tips to a fellow woman-repellent. Really, in fact, I’ll go get him now–”

“Astrid, I'm begging you to reconsider,” he desperately bargained, and Astrid giggled. She pretended to consider it.

“Why should I? What can you offer me?”

“I’ll… uh… I can take your patrol tomorrow?”

That’s right. She had a long, early morning patrol tomorrow with Snotlout. Astrid considered his offer for a moment; unlike the rest of the island, she was naturally an early riser. She’d be up and flying with Stormfly either way, but spending three hours alone with Snotlout wasn’t her idea of a pleasant start to the day.

“Take Snotlout’s place tomorrow, and we’re even.”

“Deal.”

He gave her a cute, toothy grin, and she helplessly smiled back.

There was an impatient warble of a Night Fury just outside the closed door, interrupting the moment. Astrid glanced over, noticing how the folding door wobbled like something was nudging at it from underneath, and eventually she could see his curious nose push through the bottom. Hiccup rolled his eyes, again, getting up and opening the door for his toddler-like dragon.

“Toothless, bud. Really? Our night flight isn’t for another half hour,” Hiccup exasperatedly scolded. Toothless pushed Hiccup backwards insistently, using his dragon strength to shove Hiccup around in circles until he threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine! Fine, we’ll go. Happy now?”

“You’re leaving?”

Astrid hoped her disappointment wasn’t showing on her face. Hiccup closed up his notebooks and papers, sweeping them up from the table. They piled up in his arms, and she would’ve carried them for him if he’d just asked. Hiccup went to reply, quickly pausing to shush Toothless who continued to warble loudly.

“Yeah. Sorry, he’s just bored. I imagine you probably are too, I can’t believe I made you sit through it for this long,” Hiccup apologised, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

“I didn’t mind,” Astrid protested. “It was interesting.”

“Right,” Hiccup said with a teasing disbelief. “I didn’t know you had a secret passion for cartography. The next time me and Fishlegs discuss the most efficient system for mapping elevation, you should join us.”

“I’m good thanks, actually,” she quickly refused, earning a bout of loud laughter. Ugh. She unhappily hopped off the table, grumbling under her breath. She wasn’t lying to him. She really didn’t mind watching, but it wasn’t because she loved maps…

“Thought so. And, by the way– thank you Astrid. For, you know, the company. I, well… It was nice.”

Astrid stared at him for a moment, caught off guard. Hiccup uncomfortably shifted the books in his arms, glancing away shyly.

“Hold on, you don’t have to thank me Hiccup,” Astrid clarified, shaking her head. “You’ve been so busy that I don’t really get to be alone with you like this often. I just wanted to spend some time with you, it doesn’t matter if it was about maps or whatever else.”

It was Hiccup’s turn to stare with wide eyes, a red flush crawling over his cheeks. Something in her couldn’t help but cheer, happy and proud that she still had the power to make him blush and fumble like before. She still had it, after all.

“So, let’s try and do it more often?” Astrid boldly suggested.

Hiccup was still frozen, blinking in surprise. She bristled at the lack of response, instinctively a little defensive and insecure. Was it so… unexpected that she liked spending time with him? What was so wrong with that?

“…Well?”

“Oh. Oh! Yes, of course, yeah. I’d like that too. You know there’s no one I’d rather be with than you, Astrid.”

Hiccup coughed awkwardly, ducking his head and speedily walking backwards out of the room. That was more like it. Astrid put her hand on her hip, amused.

“Yeah, so. Mhm. We’ll do that. Uh, see you– See you, Astrid– Ow!” Hiccup knocked his head against the half-open clubhouse door on his way out, and she heard Toothless imitating a chortling laugh. Hiccup threw himself into the saddle, grumbling “What are you laughing at, you overgrown reptile? Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know anything.”

Astrid grabbed her axe from the table and slung it over her shoulder, ducking out of the Clubhouse just in time to see their combined silhouette disappearing into the night sky. She also noticed Windshear in the air, flying in the opposite direction to Toothless and seemingly heading to Astrid’s hut.

She tapped Stormfly, who was napping just outside, and when her dragon was ready to go they headed over to greet her.

“Hey Astrid! Good timing.” Heather waved, gesturing toward her hut. “I needed a little break from the boys. Is it cool if I hide with you?”

“Of course! Trust me, I know the feeling. I’d say you have full permission to break Snotlout’s hand, but from experience, it doesn’t deter him as much as you’d think it would.” Astrid sympathetically smiled, using one hand to lift up the door. “You’re staying at my place tonight anyway. Unless you want to take up Snotlout’s offer? I’ve heard he has a great view.”

They both laughed at the mere idea, and Astrid was reminded of how nice it was to have another girl who got it. Heather’s status was still uncertain, and her conversation with Hiccup didn’t give her the reassurance she had been looking for. Astrid really hoped she would stay anyway.

“I’m just surprised it’s still available. You’re not interested in his… sincerity and honesty?” Heather joked, nudging Astrid with her elbow. Astrid mimed throwing up.

If she had to watch Snotlout pathetically pretend he was sincere and honest for much longer, she would be sincerely and honestly throwing him into the nearest volcano.

“I think I’d rather a pit of territorial Changewings,” Astrid reasonably said, gesturing for Stormfly to head on first into her hut. Heather took it as a cue to deal with Windshear, turning around and cupping her hands over her mouth, making a high pitched trilling noise. Windshear pushed her head into Heather’s chest, a reluctant goodbye, before taking off.

“She’ll just hang around nearby. She doesn’t really… do well with other dragons, especially in small spaces, as you’ve probably noticed,” Heather apologetically explained as the two of them headed inside.

“Don’t worry about it. Hiccup’s going to work with you guys on that, right?”

“Mn… I plan to give it a try but to be honest, I’m a little sceptical. I just don’t know if Windshear will ever be able to work with the others,” she confessed, downcast. Stormfly, sensitive as she was, began to nudge Heather’s side and chirp comfortingly. Heather indulgently scratched the Nadder under the chin, sighing softly. “I don’t want to put any of you, or your wonderful dragons, at risk.”

“Oh, we do that all on our own, actually. Some of us have a record,” Astrid dryly remarked. Maybe she was spending too much time around Hiccup.

She started to climb the ladder up to the second floor, looking over her shoulder and beckoning Heather to follow.

“Snotlout, is it?”

“Him too. But believe it or not, I was thinking about Hiccup. Did you ever hear about the Dragon Fly? He hasn’t brought it up in awhile, but I know he’s biding his time. If I have to watch him jump off a cliff with that hunk of metal that never works one more time–”

Astrid cut herself off with a frustrated grunt. She wandered over to her exercise corner, pushing the training dummy out from where it had been gathering dust in the corner and pulling a basic dagger out of her boot. Of course, the Dragon Fly couldn’t be one of those passing ideas Hiccup had and discarded later. He just had to be absolutely fascinated with it and completely convinced he could make it work.

“At least it’s a distraction from all the recreational ‘leaping in front of arrows’ and ‘reckless dive bombing’ he likes to do,” she muttered, narrowing her eyes as she aimed and threw the dagger into the dummy’s chest with her usual precision and confidence. It released some of the tension in her shoulders, and she wandered over to pull it out.

Throwing sharp things was always soothing for her. She sometimes used her axe, which was far more satisfying, but that also meant putting up with Snotlout’s whining when she inevitably went too far and made him sew it back up. She was in a pretty good mood, so a dagger would do for tonight.

“Do you want to have a go?”

“You really worry about him a lot,” Heather commented, approaching from behind Astrid and curiously looking around the room. “Thanks, but I’ll just watch you for now.”

“Yeah… I guess. It’s frustrating, like he doesn’t realise how much his life matters,” Astrid replied with a resigned sigh, pulling her shoulder back to aim again.

“Like he doesn’t realise how much you love him?” Heather teased.

Astrid let go of the dagger too early, sending it flying straight into the roof. She stared up at it blankly, her mind blissfully empty for half a second.

Then, her stomach dropped.

“It’s not like, that’s not really…” She spun around to face Heather, uncomfortably waving her hands in front of her in a dismissive gesture. She didn’t… She did, sort of, but it wasn’t like… Hiccup and her were just… Well, it wasn’t like they were nothing, but they hadn’t really defined the something, and…

“Oh,” Heather quietly said after a moment, subtly raising one hand to her mouth in surprise. “He hasn’t said anything yet? Really?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Astrid snapped.

“No, I’m sorry Astrid, I didn’t mean… I honestly thought you two would be together by now. It’s been so long, I assumed… I shouldn’t have,” Heather sincerely said, backing off a few steps to give Astrid some space, until she was leaning against the end of Astrid’s bed. Heather’s eyes were obviously and visibly drawn to the scratchy carvings of a Nadder and a Night Fury etched into the head of the bed.

She quickly looked away, but Astrid’s mind had already been snagged on that hook.

She remembered when Hiccup had drawn it for her, all the way back when they had first finished constructing their huts. He was avoiding the twins, something about a custody debate over their favourite stuffed yak that Hiccup was mediating, and it was the first chance she’d gotten to show him how she decorated the inside of her hut.

She was lying across her bed while he sat next to her up against the headboard. Out of nowhere he got that clever look in his eye, and he said he felt like something was missing. He slipped out a whittling knife from his belt (apparently it was somehow relevant to the custody debate), shifted so he was kneeling facing the wall, and when Astrid didn’t stop him, he started to grin and draw.

Now the room was perfect, he’d said. Astrid agreed.

“Why would you assume that?” she mumbled, dragging herself from her memories. In Heather’s place, Astrid wouldn’t believe herself either. She wrapped one arm around her waist, uncharacteristically self-conscious. “It’s complicated. We’re both, you know, busy. It’s a big commitment, but I’m sure he…”

… He did like her, right?

“Okay, I believe you. I really am sorry Astrid, I didn’t mean to get the wrong idea.”

Any bitterness Astrid had been feeling melted away. Heather was a good friend, and this conversation didn’t change anything. It didn’t. Things were just the same as they always were, Astrid corrected her, and that was the end of that. She shook her head, looking up at the dagger with exasperation.

“No, it’s my bad. I overreacted. Why don’t you tell me more about you and your ‘pen-pal’ instead, while I work on getting the dagger out of my ceiling?” Astrid veered the conversation away from herself, dragging the chair from her rarely used desk (Hiccup insisted her bedroom had one) to the spot where she’d been standing.

Heather smiled a little, shyly tucking a black strand of hair behind her ear and sitting down on Astrid’s bed.

“I just… wanted someone to talk to, in the beginning. No one could give me the answers I needed, I knew that. But it was still nice to have someone comforting and gentle listening,” Heather began. Astrid did know that, because they all read her private letters to Fishlegs, but she also knew that wasn’t exactly a reassuring thing to be told, so she quietly hummed in acknowledgement. “That’s also why I didn’t contact you. Ah, no offence, of course.”

“None taken,” Astrid easily agreed, stepping onto the chair and reaching up for her dagger.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t be those things. She was generally just more practical– rather than mope and mindlessly pat a crying person's back, she’d hand them an axe and teach them to use it. She could sometimes recognise when that wasn’t useful, but logic and solutions still made more sense to her than anything else.

“Anyway, it kind of went from there. We really clicked. When you’ve been surrounded by macho, tough, angry male Vikings your whole life… talking to a guy like Fishlegs who cares about your feelings and which flowers are in season was a breath of fresh air.”

Astrid’s eyes curved into a smile out of sight, pulling the dagger out and holding it to her chest.

“Yeah. I know the feeling. I’m really happy for you, Heather. You deserve this to work out for you,” Astrid genuinely said, stepping off the chair and holding out the handle to her. “Now come throw some weapons with me already.”

“Thanks, Astrid,” Heather warmly said, taking the dagger and stepping past Astrid to suddenly aggressively throw it. It pierced straight through the dummy’s head, and Astrid noted the spot with interest.

“The forehead is covered by a helmet for most vikings, and it’s also super tough to pierce unless you’re in close range. You’d have better luck going for the ankles or the neck.”

“Actually, I was going for the eye. It doesn’t really have a face, so I had to guess,” Heather replied with a shrug. Astrid whistled, impressed.

“Brutal. I like it. And huh, you’re right, I’ve never really thought about that… What are your artistic abilities like?” she asked, dragging the chair back over to her desk before rummaging through the drawers for some ink.

“Oh, no, no. Astrid, I’m really bad.” Heather laughed, shaking her head repeatedly.

“Even better. Hiccup’s going to hate it,” she smugly said, dragging Heather over to the dummy with her ink quill in hand. They sat down on the training mat, and Astrid pulled the dummy down with them.

She started with the right eye, getting one line in before forgetting what eyes were meant to look like. She glanced up at Heather’s for reference, and decided they should be bigger, smudging the line she’d already drawn into a horrible, fading ink splot and drawing on top of it. Heather turned away to hide her face, though her shoulders shook with laughter.

“There. See if you can top that,” Astrid challenged, handing over the quill.

“Tough competition, but I’ll do my best,” Heather joked, taking to drawing left eye.

She wasn’t as terrible as she claimed, because she was naturally humble, but she definitely wasn’t making it to art school anytime soon. Perhaps overcompensating, she accidentally made the eye take up a quarter of the face, nearly double the size of Astrid’s. Still, it didn’t look too bad initially. Then she started worrying about it being barely recognizable as an eye, and so continually added more and more unnecessary detail until it actually was barely recognizable.

There wasn’t enough space for two eyebrows, so they had to settle for one. And when Astrid commented on its likeness to Snotlout, Heather snorted so hard that the nose line jerked violently to one side.

“Oh, should we draw a smile on him?” Astrid asked after they lazily ‘fixed’ the botched nose, taking the quill back and sitting over the dummy consideringly.

“What does he have to smile about? His job is to be hit with knives. Do a frown,” Heather contributed. Astrid figured that was sound logic, and drew a big frown. It was perfect…ly ugly and downright terrifying.

“I love it,” Astrid said with a decisive nod.

“If only we had a helmet to top it off…”

“Oh, I’ll just get Hiccup to make one,” Astrid excitedly said. “Custom made for our new friend’s size and everything.”

“Wouldn’t that be a waste of time for him?” Heather questioned, concerned.

“Probably, yeah, but he’ll do it.”

“I see. He really cares about you guys a lot,” Heather casually said. It felt like a general statement, but something in it had Astrid’s heart stuttering. Her chest felt warm, and she hoped it hadn’t carried to her face. What was she thinking? Of course he cared about her a lot– about them all, as a group, a lot.

“Yeah. Yeah, he does, and obviously that includes you too, you know. You’re basically one of us,” Astrid replied, her voice an octave higher than usual as she stood up and busied herself with righting the training dummy.

It was all because Heather just had to bring up… that.

That, being, the… thing between her and Hiccup. The unspoken, undefined thing. The thing Astrid was absolutely sure was there, but how sure could you be of something that was never said? At first, it had been a quick kiss or two in the heat of the moment. Then, he became her best friend, and she couldn’t kiss him like he was just some boy she thought was cool anymore. They’d been kids back then, and subtle glances, blushes and flights after dark had been enough.

Now, it was all or nothing. Was it enough anymore? They’d spent so many years as friends, relying on each other, and she never really thought about it much more than that because anything more than friends was shaky, unstable ground. Every moment built a higher and higher cliff to fall from if they risked it and it didn’t work out.

At the very least, he hadn’t shown any interest toward anyone else. Not that some of the girls they’d met extended the same courtesy, but thankfully, Hiccup could be dense. It made her a little smug. See? She knew him better than they ever would. What chance did they think they had?

It wasn’t serious. There was no need to put some big dramatic L word on it, he was her closest friend first and foremost. She just got kind of annoyed that some people thought they could barge in and bat their eyelashes at him when they hadn’t been the ones by his side for so many years, and they weren’t even Hiccup’s type because they were nothing like Astrid and–

“That’s really nice of you, thank you, but I still don’t know if Windshear will be able to adjust to living here,” Heather tried to clarify, apologetically. Astrid took a deep breath, shaking herself out of her thoughts. “I’m sorry. I really would love to join you guys, but she can’t help her nature, and I won’t abandon her.”

“No one’s asking you to. Don’t worry about it so much, we’ll find a way to work with Windshear. It’s Hiccup, when it comes to dragons, he can do anything.” It wasn’t anything she hadn’t said about him before, nor something she was ashamed of believing, but she randomly felt sick with nerves.

“You don’t know that, Astrid,” Heather stressed, her voice bordering on pleading.

“I do know that. You just don’t know whether you will adjust to living here, you don’t have to make excuses,” Astrid bluntly said, spinning around to face her. She was never any good at dancing around uncomfortable topics.

Heather didn’t respond immediately, gingerly sitting down on the guest bed next to Astrid with a heavy sigh. She began to guiltily run her hands down her braid, searching for her words. Astrid softened, gently sitting next to her and feeling the mattress dip beneath their combined weight.

“Too far?”

“No, you were right. I needed to hear that,” Heather admitted. She placed her hands on her knees, shutting her eyes. “Windshear isn’t the only one who’s been alone a long time, and… she’s not the only one having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the idea of settling down.”

Astrid put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, leaning against her.

“That’s totally normal, it’s a really big decision for you. Thank you for telling me. I know it’s hard to say that, but trust me, we’ll respect what you choose. We just want to, you know, manage our expectations.”

“I know, you’ve all been so supportive… I’m just afraid that Fishlegs will take it personally. You know how he is, he’s… sensitive, he wears his heart on his sleeve. And I love that he cares, it’s really sweet. I don’t want to hurt him,” she quietly said, wordlessly looking at Astrid for advice.

“You have to be honest with him, and tell him what you just told me,” Astrid said without hesitation. If Heather wanted honeyed words, she would have talked to someone else. “You owe him that, Heather. It’ll hurt more the longer you drag it out, and then if you do decide not to stay after letting him think you definitely wanted to, it’ll break his heart.”

“Haha. I was afraid you’d say that…”

Heather grimaced lightly, and Astrid gave her an encouraging punch to the shoulder.

“Come on, this isn’t like you. You face things head on, and you’re not scared of anything. You just have to get it over and done with, rip out the sword from his gut, you know?”

“That’s less motivating than you think.” Heather chuckled. Astrid shrugged her shoulders.

“So I’ve been told.”

She could clearly picture Hiccup’s horrified expression, could practically hear him complaining ‘why is your advice always so violent?’ (even though he’s the one who keeps coming to her for advice anyway). Though she only thought about it in the privacy of her own head, she quickly grew embarrassed.

Why did she have to think of him again? Did she really talk about him that much? She didn’t, right?

“Thanks for listening to me, Astrid. I really appreciate it. You’re a good friend,” Heather said with an exhale, genuine but a little worn out. Astrid stood up from the bed to let Heather start getting ready for sleep.

“Anytime. I’m going to put Stormfly in the stables for the night, and then the two of us can get some shut eye. I have an early start tomorrow, and you’ve had a long day,” Astrid announced, starting to head for the ladder.

“Sounds good to me,” Heather replied, taking off her razorwhip spine shoulder pads one at a time (Astrid had to remember to ask her to tell Hiccup how she made those, because she wanted a pair so bad). Astrid was just starting to climb down when she paused.

“Hey Heather, you are going to tell Fishlegs, right? He’s tougher than you think, and I’d really hate to see him get his heart broken later.”

“I will. Just… tomorrow. I’ll tell him tomorrow.”

Astrid nodded, jumping down the rest of the way to the floor. She whistled for her dragon, heading out.

Stormfly’s feet thumped rhythmically behind her on the wooden decks layering the edge, and Astrid peacefully listened to her idle, quiet chirps. Halfway down to the stables Stormfly started to vocalise a little louder, squawking to capture Astrid’s attention.

“What’s up, girl?” she worriedly asked her, patting her wing and following her line of sight. The door to Hiccup’s hut was still open, and a light burned from inside. She huffed to herself. Astrid would bet gold that he was still working on those maps, and if he was, he’d be working on them all night.

“Yeah, you’re right Stormfly. A little detour couldn’t hurt.”

Astrid changed directions so that she could wander past his hut, but the closer she got the more clearly she could hear the vaguely frustrated muttering and metallic clanging from within. Stormfly must’ve noticed it long before she did– What was he doing in there? Astrid sped up her pace. She rounded the corner, looking into his hut.

“Hey Hiccup? Is everything–”

Hiccup froze, leaning back against his workbench with a dragon bear-trap snapped shut around his metal leg, using both his hands trying to pry it open. Toothless was lying not far away, tangled in a dragon netting rope, and napping like it didn’t bother him.

“… okay,” she finished, speechless. It was a good thing she hadn’t bet gold.

“Hey… Astrid. Hi,” Hiccup lamely greeted, shrugging his shoulders like there wasn’t a dragon trap around his ankle. “What’s up? Do you uh, need something, or…”

“Do you?” she asked back, raising an eyebrow. It only took a few seconds before he caved.

“… Yes, Astrid, could you disable the trap, please and thank you,” he mumbled bashfully. She rolled her eyes, kneeling at his feet and working her fingers in between the trap’s jaws, finding the unlocking mechanism and springing it open. Hiccup shook his metal leg out instinctively, even though he couldn’t have felt a thing. She found it a little endearing.

“What happened here? What were you doing with dragon traps in your hut anyway?” Astrid questioned, narrowing her eyes up at him from where she was still crouched on the ground. Hiccup sheepishly tried to lean further back over his desk, looking away with an embarrassed chuckle.

“You know, just uh. An idea I had.”

“Uh-huh.”

Hiccup valiantly tried to bite his tongue, but Astrid knew she just had to wait. Inevitably, he couldn’t stop himself from spilling everything.

“So it was actually the Changewings who gave me this idea, you know how they like to mimic us? And we’ve seen that they’re actually capable of problem solving and doing some pretty tricky things. Okay, stay with me here. The mechanisms of these basic traps are fairly simple, right? I was thinking… it might be possible to train our dragons to disable them!”

It sounded crazy. Then again, this was Hiccup– obviously it was crazy. She honestly wasn’t convinced it was possible, but knowing him, she couldn’t rule out the possibility either.

“And, and, if we could do it, we wouldn’t have to stop with just our dragons! Once we figure out which of our dragon species… if any, are capable of it, we can take some that we freed from the hunters back to the edge and teach them, so they’ll never be caught again. I know it wouldn’t work on a large scale, and that it’d be really time consuming, but if I could just get through to a few then…” Hiccup continued to explain while wildly and excitedly gesturing his hands, his thoughts running far away from him.

“How well is that working out for you right now?” Astrid wondered, half-joking and half sincerely curious. Hiccup made a few unconfident noises.

“It’s… you know, a work in progress,” he quietly admitted. Astrid stared at him in silent bemusement. “Oh come on, don’t look at me like that. Dragons are really intelligent!”

Astrid clamped the dragon trap shut in the air, picking it up from the ground and hauling it over her shoulder as she stood up.

“Then what does that say about you?” she teased, pointedly looking down at his metal leg.

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”

“And, Hiccup? Next time, just… come and get me before you do stupid experiments with dangerous dragon traps,” Astrid advised on her way out, her helpless worry slipping through the cracks. Hiccup smiled fondly at her, inclining his head in agreement. “If you get mauled, I want to watch.”

“You’ll get front row seats, I promise,” he played along, pushing himself off the desk to go and untangle Toothless. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Astrid.”

“Bright and early!” she cheerily agreed, snickering at the following groan. “Goodnight, Hiccup.”

Astrid disposed of the trap in their pile of scrap metal near the forge, and finally put Stormfly in her stable for the night. Heather was already lying in bed by the time she got back, and Astrid efficiently changed out of her spiked armour before blowing out the candles. She slid her axe under her pillow, and heard Heather laughing from her own bed.

“I do the same thing,” she explained, shifting to face Astrid.

“A good warrior should never be without her axe,” Astrid dutifully answered.

“A woman on her own who wants to live, should never be without her axe,” Heather corrected. Astrid rolled onto her back, thoughtfully frowning at her huts' wooden ceiling like she’d done many nights before. It didn’t give her any answers, as usual.

Astrid was the way she was, because she was raised a Viking warrior. She fought to protect her people, her friends. It was a choice she made freely, and it was also undeniably her nature. But Heather… She had no other choice, if she wanted to survive out there. She’d seen a kinship in Heather when they first reunited with her, because they were both warriors. That was still true in some ways. In others, they were more different than she realised.

She felt, at once, lucky and upset at the unfairness of it all. They had Heather’s back now. Astrid had Heather’s back. She didn’t have to be alone anymore.

“You know you’re not on your own now, right? You have us,” Astrid quietly whispered into the dark.

“Thank you, Astrid,” Heather replied, though they both knew it wasn’t that simple. Astrid hummed, until an idea slipped into her mind.

“Oh! I’m going on patrol with Hiccup tomorrow, why don’t you join us? It’ll be a good chance for Windshear to practise working with other dragons without stressing her out too much, and you’ll get a feel for life on the Edge.”

“… I guess it can’t hurt?”

“Astrid, are you sure I won’t be… intruding on anything?” Heather asked again, smiling nervously with one hand on her Windshear’s neck. Astrid’s face flushed red, scrunching up into a scowl.

“Of course not! Nothing’s… It’s just a patrol, okay? And anyway, Hiccup likes you as much as the rest of us, he’ll be excited to hear you’re coming along.” Astrid huffed, throwing herself into Stormfly’s saddle first. The sun had only just started to rise, and a light fog still clouded the Edge. The air was bitingly cool against her face; thankfully she remembered to shrug on a coat before she left, because it would be a few hours before the day properly warmed up.

“He will be when he shows up, anyway,” she muttered at the end.

“If you say so.”

As if on cue, Astrid turned her head to the sound of a Night Fury’s roar. Toothless swiftly dived down to the deck, spreading open his jet black wings at the last second to soften his landing. He gracefully reached the ground, trotting in a small circle to walk off the remaining energy. Astrid smiled at the boy on his back, noticing the tell-tale signs of bedhead.

“Gooood morning, look who finally decided to wake up,” Astrid greeted. He sheepishly laughed, ruffling his hands through his hair to try and tame it. Lately it was growing out longer than he usually let it. She wondered if he’d let her braid it one day.

“Haa, sorry… Morning Astrid, Heather,” Hiccup replied, evidently stifling a yawn, before turning to address Heather. “Is everything alright?”

“Yep. She’s coming along for the patrol,” Astrid cut in to inform him, and predictably, Hiccup grinned in excitement.

“Oh, that’s awesome! It’ll be great practice for Windshear, and Heather can get a feel for routine around here. Nice thinking, Astrid.”

“Welcome to the patrol,” Astrid officially declared with a teasing smirk, as Stormfly shifted under her and readied for take off. “If it feels boring and unnecessary, that’s the point, and you can’t leave because Hiccup said so.”

“Honoured to be here,” Heather replied with a chuckle, and the two of them flew off from the landing while Hiccup pointlessly protested.

“Hey! That’s not true!” he shouted over the wind, though Astrid’s fun could only last so long when the dragon she wanted to leave in the dust was a Night Fury. Soon enough, Toothless was zooming past her, and Hiccup had already come to some amendments. “Okay, maybe it’s a little bit true, but we all want to protect the Edge don’t we? It’s not just me.”

“Are you still hung up on Snotlout calling you a tyrant? Really?” Astrid said, bemused. Hiccup frowned, waving his hands vaguely as he tended to do.

“Noo…”

Suddenly, Toothless was viciously growling underneath him– uncharacteristically hostile. Astrid blinked in surprise, but quickly noticed the problem. Windshear was flying beside Toothless, and unashamedly appraising a potential threat. Toothless, for all his cute gummy smiles, was not a dragon that liked being messed with.

“Gods, sorry Hiccup. I don’t know what’s gotten into her all of a sudden, she was fine before we took off!” Heather apologised, exhaling in frustration and trying to pull Windshear a little further away. Hiccup gave Toothless a soothing scratch, patting the side of his face.

“Easy bud, she’s just trying to protect Heather,” Hiccup quietly told his dragon, who grumbled in resignation. “Don’t worry about it, it’s normal. She might feel agitated by the lack of control. Let’s let Windshear set the pace for now, we’ll follow your lead.”

Toothless slowed down, pulling up behind Windshear and Stormfly caught on to do the same. They both stayed just a little behind and a little below the dragon, so she’d feel as secure as possible. Being behind and below a Razorwhip’s tail was making Stormfly slightly anxious, but she trusted Astrid. She was a good, strong, and loyal dragon, and she was definitely getting extra chicken tonight.

“So… Where are we headed?” Heather asked, now technically leading the group.

“A quick lap around the island first. Then, there’s two cave systems I want to check out. They both open to beaches, and we haven’t been down there in awhile, so it doesn’t hurt to make sure nothing’s slipped through our defences,” Hiccup explained, the wind whipping through his messy hair in a way that made Astrid smile into the back of her palm. “It shouldn’t take long! We can go further out and make sure everything’s normal on our surrounding islands after.”

“Speaking of defences, I wanted to check on the ballistas in our watchtowers,” Astrid piped up, reminded of a conversation she’d had with Tuffnut.

Surprisingly, it was kind of insightful. He’d noticed the local Nadders had taken an interest in using the ballistas as toys, and that a few were already faulty and not firing correctly. It did kind of imply he was using the ballistas without permission, which was a waste of ammunition, but it was good to know anyway.

“Ah. The Nadders again?” Hiccup winced.

“Again?” Heather questioned, not being in the loop of the group jokes. Astrid swerved in front of Toothless, absolutely needing to be the one to tell the story.

“Okay so, one time, we brought home a group of really friendly Nadders that we’d freed from the hunters. We were still rehabilitating them into the wild, so they hung around our area for some time. Anyway, they watched Hiccup throw his leg for Toothless to fetch and–” Astrid’s voice had already become choked with laughter as Hiccup groaned.

“They kept stealing my legs! And they wouldn’t give them back!”

“Yeah, but it was really funny,” Astrid had to point out, in fairness. She had obviously been trying to get his legs back too, but the image of three nadders, each holding one of his spare metal prosthetics, playfully running away from him and tossing his legs between themselves– It was too much. It really was.

“I found them nosing at my door trying to get into my hut for weeks later, but they did eventually move on,” Hiccup finished the story. Heather was laughing along with Astrid, though she was trying much harder to pretend otherwise.

“That… must’ve been tough to deal with,” Heather said, biting back her smile.

“It was. Thanks for your sympathy,” Hiccup sarcastically replied. “Anyway. Ballistas. Do you want to branch off and do that first? Heather and I can meet you around the northern caves?”

“Whoever gets there last is a rotten egg!” Astrid declared, putting one palm flat on her dragon’s neck. “Stormfly, dive!”

The two sped off too fast to hear Hiccup’s reply. The wind rushed by her ears and she felt the thrill of her stomach dropping in the steep dive. This was what she loved about flying. Stormfly squawked happily in agreement, and Astrid held on tight to her saddle when they spun into a few barrel rolls from the excitement.

They skidded to a stop, perching on the roof of the first watchtower, and Astrid slid down the sloped roof to jump inside. Standing up on the stone edge, she could see the Night Fury and Razorwhip turning around the island’s corner in the distant sky. The fog had started to clear up, and the rising morning sun painted their black and silver scales in vivid hues.

The chill started to set in once she’d stood still for too long, so she spun around to start checking the ballista. Each watchtower had some basic supplies, including a cloth cover, so she simply threw it over in hopes it would deter the Nadders. They’d bought all the cloth and blankets in bulk for a ridiculously cheap price, so they were full of holes and smelt terrible. Stormfly chittered, stamping uncomfortably when Astrid accidentally waved one in front of her face.

“Sorry girl, you guys have sensitive noses, I know. At least this should keep our defences safe,” Astrid talked to herself, throwing a blanket over the last ballista left to check. She wrote down where the faulty ones were on a scrap piece of paper to give to Hiccup later, along with a note that they should probably invest some time into finding a proper, long term solution to the Nadder problem. Shoving the paper back into her coat pocket, she pulled herself up into Stormfly’s saddle to meet the other two at the beach.

She arrived first, a little surprisingly. Stormfly landed on the sand, playfully shifting from foot to foot and enjoying the sands unpredictable depth. Hiccup and Heather weren’t too far behind, their dragons landing nearby with significantly less enthusiasm about the sand. Windshear shook uncomfortably, her scales clattering, and Toothless frowned at the ground with every step.

“What took you guys so long?” she curiously asked. Heather’s reply was immediate.

“It was my fault. Windshear… she… We were moving too fast, she wasn’t ready.”

Astrid looked between them with worry, visually scanning Hiccup and Toothless for any injuries. Hiccup’s hair was worse than it had been before, like he’d taken a tumble through the sky, and he seemed a little cold, but otherwise they both seemed fine. She supposed an accident or two was bound to happen eventually.

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Hiccup brushed off Heather’s serious concern. It was impossible to tell whether Heather was exaggerating because she felt guilty, or whether Hiccup was downplaying the real danger he’d been in. “It was good practice for our reflexes anyway, right bud?”

Astrid rolled her eyes into the back of her head.

“Careful, your face might stay like that,” Hiccup cautioned, a teasing glint in his eye as Toothless wandered around to her side.

“It might need to, with you around,” Astrid shot back. Hiccup grinned at her, not taking it seriously. “Anyway, don’t worry about it, Heather. I’m sure it wasn’t your fault. We’ll work on it slowly from now on, there’s no rush.”

“Exactly,” Hiccup agreed. “You’re one of us, and that makes Windshear one of us too– Before you say anything, yes, even if you don’t want to be a dragon rider. You’re our friend! You don’t have to live here to have a place here.”

“Thank you. Both of you. That… means a lot, actually.” Heather seemed to relax just slightly, though she was overall still more on edge than she had been before. “Windshear is a good girl, really. She’s just…”

“Adjusting,” Astrid finished for her, smiling. Windshear wasn’t the only one. “We get it.”

Hiccup patted Toothless’ neck, signalling for him to head on forward into the mouth of the cave. He looked back over his shoulder, leaning back in his saddle to talk.

“Toothless and I will lead the way, it gets really dark inside and I didn’t bring torches. Heather and Windshear, you guys follow us. Astrid, you and Stormfly take the other caves.”

“Hiccup, I don’t know about this…” Heather wavered, gripping the handle of her saddle.

“It’ll be fine, I promise, Windshear will be fine! We won’t let anything happen–”

“How, exactly, are you going to do that when they’re behind you and you’re in total darkness? Did I mention that it’s a narrow area with no room to manoeuvre?” Astrid cut in, frowning. She shifted her gaze to Heather, trying her best to convey that it wasn’t personal. “I’m with Heather, I don’t think Windshear is ready. It’s just a bad idea, Hiccup.”

“Yes, Astrid’s right. I’m sorry, Hiccup, I know you’re trying,” Heather told him, sympathetically. Hiccup opened his mouth to protest, but Heather quickly continued. “It’s okay, really, I understand. It’s not a problem. How about Windshear and I take the other caves?”

“If you’re sure, I guess…” Hiccup sighed, scratching the back of his neck. Astrid unconsciously glared at him harder. He was so frustrating. Even now, he didn’t get it. He still didn’t get it. He was so determined to make faster progress with Windshear that his own safety never seemed to factor into it.

“There shouldn’t be any problems, Darkvarg and the albino Night Terrors look after those caves. They’re a little more aggressive than the regular Night Terrors, so if they bother you, just leave. As long as they’re still there, it’s secure. You know the distress signal if you come across anything.”

“I’ll make sure to keep that in mind. I think a little break will be really good for Windshear anyway. Anything in particular I should look out for?”

“Eh, you’ll know it if you see it,” Hiccup vaguely said. Astrid quietly counted the scales on the back of Stormfly’s head, calming herself down while the two of them talked. “If the albino Night Terrors have been subdued by dragon root arrows, or if there’s any suspicious wooden crates you don’t recognise– Oh, don’t worry about the throne, though. That’s normal. It’s Fishlegs’.”

Heather’s eyes widened in mild surprise.

“Yep. The trap door system in there to shut out the light? That was all him, too. He’s a very beloved ruler. Ask him later, I’m sure he’d want to tell the story himself,” Hiccup told her, wingmanning for Fishlegs. Heather laughed warmly, nodding.

“I definitely will. I’ll see you guys soon,” she said, taking off with Windshear. Hiccup finally turned back to Astrid, gesturing his head toward the caves and heading in first. The opening of the cavern was big enough to fly through, so their dragons picked up their wings and sped inside, covering a large amount of ground in seconds.

She heard Toothless roaring, using the echo of the soundwaves to seamlessly guide him around the stalactites and stalagmites. Stormfly burned a low flame in her mouth without shooting it to light up the passage for the two of them, and they naturally fell behind. Toothless blended in with the darkness of the cave, and it wasn’t long before they were too far from the entrance light for Astrid to see them at all.

She knew they didn’t stray far, though. They never did for long.

The caves soon became too narrow for their dragons to fly, and Stormfly shifted into brisk jog along the ground. Astrid kept part of her attention on her surroundings. The other part was focused on ignoring the strange, angry, tangled feeling in her chest.

Obviously, the source of it couldn’t allow that.

“Everything okay? You’ve been kind of quiet,” Hiccup commented from somewhere in the dark caves ahead of her. She heard Toothless let out another tiny roar as he walked, scanning the tunnel ahead. He asked what was wrong, so he was going to find out.

“You know, you don’t have to put yourself in danger to make Heather feel welcome. It won’t work, you can’t just pretend there isn’t a risk to make her feel better. When something inevitably goes seriously wrong, she’s going to hate herself for it. Have you thought about that?”

“Huh? I… I wasn’t doing that. I wasn’t trying to, anyway.”

“Oh, really,” Astrid replied snarkily. “So you just had no idea it was dangerous.”

“Yes! No– Agh,” Hiccup stopped, exhaling harshly. He patiently tried to rephrase his words. “Of course there’s a risk, I know that, but Windshear can’t learn to trust us if we don’t give her a chance.”

“You can give her a chance without always putting yourself at risk,” Astrid raised her voice, feeling even worse because there was no face for her to put her anger to. It was directionless, echoing sadly off the cavern walls and coiling even tighter in her chest.

She swung herself off Stormfly’s side, landing with a thud on the ground. They had stopped moving forward already, and Astrid stood in front of Stormfly. If she squinted, she could see Hiccup sitting on Toothless, putting his hands up in a baffled gesture.

“Always? Heather’s only been here a day!” Hiccup incredulously argued back. “I don’t think I’ve upset her that seriously. Have I?”

“It’s not about her!” Astrid snapped, self-consciously scrunching her fist in the side of her skirt. “I’m upset.”

There was a beat of silence. She heard the chink of his prosthetic against the cavern floors as he slowly got off Toothless, and before she knew it, the thoughts that had been eating away at her started to come out.

“You’re our leader and I’ve always trusted your judgement, but you have these double standards that I can’t stand, Hiccup! You would never let us put ourselves in half the danger you put yourself in. I know danger is part of the job, you can’t control that, but it feels like whenever I look away, you’re… running off on some suicidal solo mission, or standing in front of an arrow for a dragon that hated us, or messing around with dragon traps that could take your other damn leg and I–”

Astrid let out a frustrated noise, kicking a nearby rock until some of her pent up frustration had been released. She clenched her eyes shut, lowering her head.

She’d grown up in a loving household, and she would never take that for granted– but the thing about her parents, her father especially, was that they were calm and clear-headed people. She knew the type well. It meant that when she got angry, they wouldn’t listen to a word she said. It didn’t matter how valid her point was, it counted for nothing if she was emotional when she said it.

And she’d gone and lost her cool anyway. She’d heard the phrase ‘calm down’ so often that when she wasn’t numb to it, it made her sick.

“Forget it, I don’t even know why I’m…” Astrid went back to Stormfly, grabbing onto her saddle to start hauling herself back up when Toothless nudged her side, cooing sadly. She jumped in her skin. When did he…?

Astrid turned around, and Hiccup was in front of Stormfly, idly giving her dragon a scratch on the nose just the way she liked it.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he said, his sincere eyes meeting hers. Huh.

He always found new ways to surprise her.

Hiccup awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, unsure what to do with himself as he continued, “I don’t always, ah, think these things through, and that’s not fair to you guys. I’ll try to be more careful. Thank you for keeping me in line.”

Astrid swallowed back that unexpectedly soft, fluttering happiness. He was doing his best to take her concerns seriously. He didn’t dismiss the place they came from, and he didn’t hesitate for a second to apologise. This was Hiccup. She shouldn’t have expected any less. Hiccup gently ran his hand down the side of Stormfly’s head, giving Astrid a tentative smile.

“I rely on you. I don’t know where I’d be without you, Astrid.”

Astrid didn’t know where she’d be without him, either. All her frustration and anger at his self-sacrificing habits– it came from a place of fear. She couldn’t linger on the thought of living without him for very long.

“At the bottom of a cliff with the mangled remains of the Dragon Fly Two, I’m sure,” she joked, lightening the atmosphere. Hiccup rolled his eyes, huffing out a relieved laugh and stepping in closer.

“Hilarious.”

She punched his shoulder for good measure, and Hiccup made a dramatic show of wincing and rubbing his arm.

“Ow, whaat…”

“That’s for worrying me.”

She said it fondly without much thought, but inexplicably her thoughts dragged up the memory of the last time she’d said something similar. That, and what she’d done after. Had Hiccup always been standing that close? His outline was glowing with the warm light of Stormfly’s fire, and the air felt charged with static. He was staring back, his lips unconsciously parted the smallest amount. It was impossible for Astrid not to look. She’d pulled him up to her, the last time, but he was taller than her now. She’d have to grab his tunic, and pull him down to, to…

Hiccup seemed to lean in, seemed to step closer again, and she was so prepared to close her eyes and trust him without any words when–

“Oh, good boy!”

Astrid blinked. Hiccup walked past her, crouching down beside Toothless, who had disappeared after nudging Astrid. Toothless had something in his toothy mouth, proudly showing it off to Hiccup.

“What did you find bud?” he asked, taking it from him.

Astrid spent a moment reorienting herself, and when the reality kicked in, a fierce blush did too. She put her cold hands up to her warm face, desperately trying to calm the heat, while her head spun thinking about how close his lips had been, and how when he shifted (in retrospect, noticing Toothless enter), she thought he was going to…

Stupid, stupid Heather, this was all her fault! If she hadn’t brought up that, Astrid wouldn’t be–

“… Astrid? Anyone home?” Hiccup repeated, waving something in front of her face with a concerned frown.

What the hell was she thinking?

“What?” she eloquently murmured. “Sorry. I… must’ve spaced out.”

He shrugged it off, re-explaining what he’d been saying and showing off the round wooden board in his hand. “It’s a dart board, and all the darts are burned to a crisp. I don’t think we’ve been invaded, but I do think I know where all that missing monstrous nightmare gel went.”

“Snotlout and the twins,” she growled, her revelation temporarily interrupted by the primal instinct to find and throttle those three idiots. Those were their island's defences! If they wanted darts to be exciting Astrid would show them exciting– Hiccup bit back a laugh. “Oh, when I get my hands on them–”

“I will talk to them, don’t worry,” he reassured, putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing comfortingly as he passed. Astrid’s stomach did a flip. She was not thinking about it, she was not thinking about it. “There’s nothing else here. Let’s go see how Heather went.”

Everything was… normal. Hiccup was her best friend. Things between them were normal.

“Great! Good idea!” she agreed, hopping onto Stormfly faster than ever and lightly patting the back of her neck to get her going.

Nothing was changing. Their relationship was completely normal and stable!

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay now? It’s fine if you’re still mad, I wouldn’t blame you,” Hiccup quietly prodded, steering Toothless closer to Stormfly’s wing. Though she still felt uncertain, looking down at him now, it was easy to put aside for a moment.

“I wasn’t angry with you in the first place, just… frustrated, and a little tired. I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m okay now, really,” she told him as truthfully as she could.

As they were nearing the cave’s exit, she noticed Hiccup crossing his arms over his chest to rub his hands up his arms, subtly shivering in the wind. The cave had given them protection from the worst of it, but now it seemed like the chill was getting to Hiccup again.

It didn’t help that although he’d certainly shot up in height, and… filled out a little, in build, he was still undeniably lean and thin, and he always felt the cold more acutely than the rest of them. Idiot, what was he thinking, not bringing a coat on a morning like this?

Astrid wasn’t even thinking about what she was doing as she pulled off her own coat, tossing it over the top of him. This amount of cold was nothing Astrid couldn’t handle anyway. Hiccup spluttered in surprise, pulling it down off of his face and staring at her in puzzled confusion.

“Wear it,” she commanded without explanation.

“What? Astrid, no, I can’t take–”

“Wear. It. Haddock.”

“But it’s yours, and you’ll get cold–” he tried to refuse, but she cut him off with a sharp look.

Unable to push it any further, he sighed in defeat, slipping on her coat and burying his head into the warm fur collar. Blue wasn’t strictly Hiccup’s colour, that was more Astrid’s thing, but the vision of him in her colours struck her like a hammer anyway. His ears and cheeks were dusted pink from the cold, and Astrid felt like she’d been gaping long enough for a fly to get in.

“Thanks, Astrid.”

Toothless took off into the sky first, and Astrid took a moment to collect herself with a deep breath before she told Stormfly to follow. They flew over the length of the island to meet Heather on the other side, and the sky was looking a little brighter and bluer than before. Astrid stretched her arms over her head, taking in the air and lying back in her saddle. Hiccup and Toothless did a playful loop around them, Hiccup hanging upside down above her for a second before gravity pulled him away. She smiled, pushing down every thought that threatened to surface.

She was fine with the way things were. Really! Heather was wrong! Astrid just wasn’t looking for anything more, from anyone, at the moment!

“You mentioned you didn’t sleep well, before. Something on your mind?” Hiccup eventually spoke up, never the type to miss a single detail. Nope. Absolutely nothing had been on Astrid’s mind, thanks for asking.

“Hmmmm, now that I think about it, there was one thing,” she slowly said, finding an opportunity to change the topic. “Do you know how to make Viking helmets?”

Hiccup curiously tilted his head her way, blinking with an intelligent, searching look.

“… It’s a little harder than your average axe or mace but yeah, I guess I probably could. I’ve never really tried. Why?”

“I want one for my training dummy. Heather and I drew a face on him last night, so it only feels appropriate.”

Hiccup whined.

“Astrid. No. You’re killing me. Helmets have so many parts. Do you know how much work that’ll be, just for a training dummy?”

“I know how much work it’ll be for you, it won’t be any for me,” Astrid teased, putting on her best innocent expression. Hiccup dramatically sighed, slumping over in his saddle. “Oh come on, you know I’m kidding. You can say no.”

“I’ll do it. You knew I’d do it. Just… gods, please don’t tell the others. If I have to start making tiny helmets for Ruff and Tuff’s boars, I think I’ll lose my mind,” Hiccup grumbled.

Astrid laughed at the unspoken implication– he had no doubt he’d be spending his days making tiny hats for boars, if they only asked it of him. He’d probably think of some excuse like how they’d been working extra hard lately, or they showed up to all their patrol shifts on time, and then he’d do it regardless just because they were his friends and it would make them happy. Oh, the cold wind had nothing on how warm she felt now.

“Your secret is safe with me,” Astrid promised, because sweet as the thought was, it was hard enough to find free time with him as it was without putting ‘tiny boar helmets’ on his stupidly long to-do list. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company while you work on it. I’m sure I can help out with a thing or two in the forge while I’m there too!”

It was a little in-joke between them. In her defence, she really had only been trying to help. But as it turned out, 15 year old Astrid didn’t have the patience, the sensitivity or the eye for fine detail that the whole process required, and messed up enough orders that Hiccup had to finally put his foot down and make her wait outside the forge.

Her ego had been a little hurt at the time, but by the end of the day she’d ended up admiring him more than ever before. If that was what she felt like when a friend patiently and politely told her she wasn’t good at something– then how had Hiccup felt, his entire life until recently? Not to mention that she’d gone in under the assumption all you needed was some brute force to bang together a weapon, but it was technical and difficult. Hiccup calmly operated the scene, fully and totally in his element.

Astrid reckoned that if half the village tried blacksmithing for a day before the battle with the Red Death, Hiccup would have gained a lot of respect overnight.

The results of her efforts would probably be different now; she was far better at listening to orders, and Hiccup was far better at giving them. But nonetheless, she didn’t do more than he asked of her for his sanity.

“Absolutely no helping,” Hiccup replied, mock serious. She gave him an impression of his serious face, which made him gesture around unhappily. “I do not look like that, when have I ever made that face?”

“Oh! There’s Heather, I’ll get her opinion on my impression.” Astrid sat up in her saddle, noticing the Razorwhip in the distance and flying a little faster. Heather had no troubles with the albino Night Terrors after she left Windshear outside, and found nothing out of the ordinary.

Heather also totally agreed that Astrid’s impression was spot on.

“Sorry, Hiccup,” she sweetly apologised, while Hiccup grumbled about being ganged up on, pouting.

“Don’t apologise, Hiccup could use a bit of humbling anyway. Where to next?”

Hiccup shot her a look, before digging out his map from his pocket and laying it on Toothless’ back. “We’ll do a general sweep of all our neighbouring islands, and then I want to go a little further west.”

“Why west?” Astrid asked, craning her neck over to try and read Hiccup’s map.

“I was talking with the twins the other day, who mentioned the sea stacks out west. They were arguing that it was the best spot for a large-scale Loki day prank, but it got me thinking… Relatively secluded area, close enough to the edge, unmonitored, a large amount of cover…”

“… What if the hunters had figured the same thing?” Astrid finished for him, following along his train of thought. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had been helping a lot recently, albeit mostly unintentionally. Maybe they did deserve some tiny boar helmets.

“Exactly.” Hiccup nodded, slipping the map back into his pocket and resting his hands on the saddle. “Well, it’s just a theory. What do you think, Heather? You were undercover there, you know them pretty well.”

“They won’t launch anything costly until they know it’s a sure investment, so they would put a test shipment through there first. If we can catch and stop that, it’ll save you a lot in the long run. Plus, I’ve told you guys that they exchange cargo between ships so it’s harder for you guys to track them. Maybe they’d use the spot for an exchange?” Heather commented at length, providing an insight from working on the inside. God, she was so cool. Astrid really, really hoped she’d join them.

“Great points Heather! Alright guys, let’s go there first then, just in case. The other stuff is more of a formality, I think I’m on next patrol anyway so I’ll just make sure to do a general check then,” Hiccup decided on the spot, orienting himself with a quick measure of the sun before he and Toothless started to fly west.

With three of the fastest dragons, they pushed themselves to soar through the air until the landscape was flying past them. Windshear was too focused on keeping up to start trouble, and Astrid wondered whether Hiccup had thought of that.

“Why don’t we split up? I could take the general checks,” Heather suggested, calling out over the wind, but Hiccup quickly shook his head.

“No, it’s too dangerous to be out too far from the Edge without a partner,” he very firmly told her. Astrid knew exactly what he was thinking about, and she had to agree. Viggo had gotten them where they least expected it, and Astrid had nearly died for it. “I won’t take that risk again.”

She smiled to herself at the protective tone in his voice, dipping her head. It only took a second for her to be battered with the memory of Hiccup leaning gently against Stormfly’s side, a head or so taller than her, his green eyes glittering in the dim light and his voice lowering to tell her ‘I don’t know where I’d be without you, Astrid.’

Ohhhh no, no, no.

“I can’t see anything from here…” Hiccup thought aloud, taking out his spyglass and squinting towards the distant giant sea stacks. “But the twins were right, they’re huge and super close together, it would be easy to hide a ship inside.”

“And there’s not a lot of room to manoeuvre in a fight either,” Heather added. “If Viggo hasn’t found this place yet, you should definitely keep an eye on it. A larger scale operation would be really difficult to handle.”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” he replied, his brows furrowing. Astrid knew it wasn’t reasonably possible for him to hear her heart beating from so far away, but she still felt like her chest was made of glass, transparent for everyone to see. What did he see when he looked at her? Did he know?

“Astrid–”

“Yes!” she responded suspiciously quickly. Hiccup looked back at her in silent, subtle surprise. She wanted to throw herself off Stormfly’s back and straight into the ocean.

“… Can you and Heather take a side each and fly around the outside? I’ll scout from above. If you can, stick to the sides of the sea stacks and avoid being seen.”

“Yep. No worries. Can do that,” Astrid said. Hiccup took the opportunity to unclip the blue coat, sliding it off his shoulders and flying over Astrid to gently drop it in her lap. It was getting a lot hotter now anyway, and the wind was a little more bearable with the mid morning sun’s warmth. She shoved it into her saddle bag.

“Thank you for that, again,” he sincerely said, leaning in his saddle to her side. Astrid stared back at him, feeling a blush creeping up her cheeks. Heather coughed into her fist.

“And if we find a ship?” she questioned, throwing her hood up and over her hair.

“We blow it to pieces,” he simply answered, grinning as he and Toothless looped around them and started climbing higher into the air. Astrid and Heather continued to fly straight towards the sea stacks, and Astrid groaned in frustration the minute Hiccup was evidently out of earshot.

“What’s up?” Heather asked kindly.

“Heather… Is it… really obvious?”

“Hm? Is what…?” Heather frowned. Astrid helplessly lay forward in her saddle, putting her chin on her arms and watching Hiccup and Toothless dip in and out of the clouds. “Oh, Astrid. You really like him, don’t you?”

“It’s complicated,” she grumbled into her arms.

“Is it?” Heather replied, shrugging. “It sounds to me like you’re making it complicated.”

“Heather, he’s… We’re… It wouldn’t work now anyway. You know.”

Heather laughed gently, “I don’t know. You’re going to have to be a little more specific– Later, that is.”

Astrid nodded, and the two of them split off to scout around each side. She couldn’t see anything immediately, but the rock formations could’ve easily hid something from her. Hopefully between the three of them they’d have it covered, though. She kept quiet, continuing to fly slow and low, until Heather’s surprised yell rang out from the other side.

Stormfly’s spines pricked up in preparation for battle, and she quickly circled in a steep upward climb to cross over the top of the sea stacks. If there was a ship inside, it was too dangerous to go through. She just reached the top in time to see Toothless flying down over the other side to help Heather. She pushed Stormfly a little faster, lifting herself up in the saddle to minimise the wind resistance.

“So, Heather, about that one test ship,” Hiccup called out, inclining his head towards where three ships began to emerge from behind the sea stack closest to the edge. “I’m not a big fan of your math!”

Stormfly came to a screeching halt when she reached the other side, and Astrid began to break down the scene in her mind. Windshear was shooting her blue fire at the large stones catapulted toward her, freaked out and hostile. Toothless folded his wings as he dived in, and Astrid noticed the other ship preparing to fire a net at Windshear.

Hiccup and Toothless accidentally cut it a little close, pulling up right next to Windshear and shooting a plasma blast through said net just in time. Windshear jumped back with an aggressive screech, narrowing her eyes and immediately retaliating without a clear idea of who was and wasn’t the enemy–

“Hiccup!” Heather shouted in warning and fear as Windshear shot a spine towards him at a dangerously close range.

Astrid felt her heart dropping like a stone in her stomach as Hiccup screamed, dropping his entire weight to the side as he and Toothless rolled to dodge it– they managed to make it, but the spin was too sudden and forceful. Hiccup was thrown off the saddle on the first rotation, and Toothless lost control of his tailfin.

Heather tried to go after them with a panicked call, but Windshear dived like she was chasing an enemy she planned to finish off. Heather yanked back on her saddle, struggling to control Windshear while arrows still whizzed past either side of them. Astrid was already flying the fastest she could but she was too far, she was way too far, he was free falling through the air and she wasn’t going to make it–

Astrid could’ve fallen off her own dragon with relief as Hiccup finally managed a grip on Toothless’ saddle, the two of them flying just inches above the water's surface. He had a way with miracles, that was for sure.

Unfortunately, it left him low and centre of the three ships. An easy target.

“Pull back!” Hiccup shouted to the two of them. “Astrid, protect Heather while she gets control of Windshear, I’ll draw their fire! Both of you hit them with all you have when they need to reload!”

Hiccup and Toothless skilfully evaded multiple rounds of arrows from seemingly every direction, spinning over the top of the ships and gliding over the water at their sides. The hunters tried to keep up, but Toothless was too fast. Astrid reluctantly flew towards Heather, who was already gaining distance from the fight, but she looked over her shoulder and every arrow seemed inches closer to hitting Hiccup than the last.

She gasped under her breath as an arrow flew just beside his head, and before she knew it, she was leading Stormfly down to fire along the line of archers. Stormfly squawked in hostility, her tail whipping back and forth behind her as she took out another catapult close to the edge Toothless had been gliding under.

“Astrid, what–” Hiccup asked, grunting as he ducked from another arrow– “are you doing? They still have plenty of ammunition!”

“Sorry, I… I mistimed it!” she apologised, pulling her axe from her back and whacking an arrow away from Stormfly’s wing.

Hiccup and Toothless’ rhythm was messed up, and without constantly moving between the ships, they were struggling much more than before. The hunters kept firing, and Astrid and Stormfly were quickly becoming overwhelmed by the heat. Astrid didn’t know what she was doing. Nothing had gone wrong, Hiccup had it under control! They’d done this strategy plenty of times before.

Her mind was scrambled, and all she could think was that it would only take one lucky shot to lose her best friend forever.

Heather and Windshear rejoined them, using the sea stacks for cover and going for the ships furthest from Hiccup and Astrid in case Windshear lost sight of the actual target again. It was a good thing for the battle overall, but it didn’t help their immediate problem. Hiccup and Toothless flew up beside her, watching her back while she watched theirs. If they tried to fly out of range they’d be shot the second they turned their back on the ships, but they couldn’t stay still like sitting ducks either.

“Oookay, this could’ve gone better! New plan. Stormfly has the best precision shots, you two fly over and take your time to aim for their arrow restocks. Get as close as you need, Toothless and I will back you up,” Hiccup ordered, and Astrid nodded, holding tight to her saddle. She trusted him, implicitly and explicitly.

The arrow canisters were a small and specific target, but they picked the right dragon for the job. It was hard to survey the deck and pinpoint exactly where they were, but Astrid was starting to get the hang of it, sending out single spine shots repeatedly and barely missing a single one. Toothless shadowed them, flying at Stormfly’s wing and ducking around her to guard her from all sides.

Except, then… they started shooting arrows tipped with dragon root. They both caught sight of the first round being fired their way, and Astrid instinctively shoved Toothless out of the way, blasting them to pieces. Hiccup gestured wildly at her, but Astrid was already swerving around their other side to shoot another round.

They were meant to be covering her, not the other way around! She needed to trust him. She trusted him!

“Sorry!” she shouted, again, her eyes stinging with frustration. What was wrong with her?

“Astrid, I have it handled!” he yelled back, but it was too late to continue their plan anyway. The hunters hid their arrow supplies, and took advantage of the confusion to restock and load up the catapults. It was meant to be their opportunity to completely finish them off, but they were out of sync and a mess. They had no choice.

“Retreat! Regroup in the clouds!”

The three of them climbed up and out of the arrow range while the hunters reloaded their weapons, and Astrid felt the shame and embarrassment flood through her. She fucked it up, she didn’t follow basic instructions, and–

“Hiccup, I am so, so sorry,” Heather was the first to start, shaking her head in distress. “This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have come. I put you in danger–”

“Heather, it’s okay! Windshear was just frightened, she’s not used to teamwork. You did a great job back there getting her to calm down so quickly, you clearly know your dragon. I’m fine. I would’ve gone down there to draw their fire as a first move either way,” Hiccup reassured her as earnestly as he could. “I’m glad you’re here. Can I count on you now?”

Heather was still clearly filled with guilt, but she nodded resolutely anyway, determined to make it up to them.

“Great. Astrid, what happened down there?”

Astrid gripped her saddle tightly, squeezing her eyes shut. This wasn’t like her. She was good at this, battle was her thing. She had one job and…

“I don’t know, I just messed it up. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not… That’s not…” Hiccup faltered, not expecting the answer he got. “I’m not upset, I was just worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” she curtly replied, pointedly glancing away. She couldn’t look him in the eye with the knowledge that she put the mission in jeopardy because she couldn’t ignore her stupid, irrational feelings.

Hiccup graciously left it there. They didn’t have the time to go into it now anyway. She took a deep breath. Focus, Astrid.

“Alright, so we had a bad run! It’s fine, the important thing is that no one was hurt. We’ve already done more damage than it seems, between the three of us we can definitely take out those ships for good this time,” he opened with a short motivational speech, before narrowing down on the specific plan. “We’ll have to be careful, especially now we know they have dragon root arrows. Heather, good thinking using the sea stacks back there. Toothless and I will use them for cover while we blast holes in the sides of the ships. The two of you have much longer range attacks with your spines; stay out of range, but wreak havoc wherever you can.”

“Got it,” Heather agreed, already pushing aside her conflict and sharpening herself for the battle. “What next?”

“The ships will slowly begin to sink. These models don’t have the space for dragon cages, but there could be plans or communications that might be useful. I’ll land on one, Astrid, you go for the other. Windshear will cover us from the sky, and keep blasting the deck. Whoever’s done first will check the third ship. Sound good?”

“Mhm. Sounds good,” Astrid repeated, quieter and more sombre than usual.

The rest of the fight went fine, and everything happened according to the plan. It was only three ships, there shouldn’t have even been a problem to begin with. Astrid found a locked metal box in the captain’s quarters of the ship, and by the time she tucked it under her arm and hopped on Stormfly, Hiccup was already on the other ship.

After contributing to the fight and working with the team properly the second go around, it seemed like Heather was warming back up to the idea of staying, though it was still hard to tell. They did a final round of destruction, before figuring they’d gotten their message across and heading out. Overall, it hadn’t taken more than an hour.

Astrid was so exhausted that she felt like weeks had passed. Something about her perfection complex, if she had to guess. Or maybe it was because of whatever her confusing, conflicting heart was trying to tell her.

“Hey Heather, why don’t you take the box back to the Edge and see if you and Fishlegs can crack it open?” Hiccup suddenly spoke up with a strange suggestion. “Astrid and I will be right behind you, there’s just uh, one other errand I want to run first.”

Astrid could do that. She just… needed to get her head in the game. She wouldn’t let a mistake like before happen again. She threw the box over at Heather, who caught it in her lap. Heather looked between Hiccup and Astrid with a meaningful gaze that flew right over both of their heads.

“I’ll do that. Don’t worry about it, you guys take your time,” she said, smiling at Astrid. Astrid wearily smiled back. “I’m sorry again about earlier, Hiccup. I’ll see you guys back at the Edge.”

Astrid kept such a tight rein over herself on the quiet flight that she didn’t even remember to ask where they were going. It didn’t occur to her, not until they were starting to fly low over Boar Island. It wasn’t far from the Edge, and pretty safe once they’d learned not to wake up the sleeping boars during daytime hours– but it was also small and didn’t provide them with anything useful, so they didn’t visit often.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, frowning. Hiccup laughed awkwardly, and her suspicions grew. She wasn’t sure what she was suspecting, exactly, but it was suspicious. “Hiccup.”

“Aha, yes Astrid?”

“What errand did you need to run?”

“I guess you’ll find out… if you can keep up,” Hiccup said, whispering something to Toothless, who looked back at Astrid with a gummy, dragon smile. Then, the two of them were off.

“Just tell–! Ugh!”

Astrid resigned herself to chasing after them. The tricky bastard tried to slow her down by flying close to the ground, swerving between the trees with the quick, flexible agility of a Night Fury. Unfortunately for him, he’d forgotten Stormfly was a tracking dragon, and she could follow them just as well from the air.

She found herself unconsciously grinning with delight as he ended up giving himself a disadvantage when she didn’t fall into his plan, and once she could see the clearing he must have been headed for, she dove in to land there first.

“Sorry, what were you saying about keeping up?” she loudly called out to the forest, where the pair of them quickly shot out a second later. Toothless’ tongue lolled out the side of his mouth with excitement from the chase.

“You win,” Hiccup easily admitted defeat, hopping off Toothless. Astrid did the same, looking around their surroundings to find that he’d lead them to a small lake on the far side of the island. There was a series of flat, mossy stones that acted like a staircase for a small rush of water to cascade down from the stream above. She had barely begun to wonder what they were doing, when she noticed Hiccup had already started cautiously making his way up the stones beside the water.

Her brows furrowed, and she jogged to follow him. Her boots padded against the stone, barely audible over the sound of the water rushing and distant birds.

“Where are you going?” she pushed again, glancing behind her to see that Toothless hadn’t followed. The Night Fury was lying on the grass by the body of water the waterfall fed into, relaxing and watching them with curious, perked ears. Stormfly hopped over towards him, spreading her wings playfully and engaging him. Toothless warbled back.

When she turned her head forward, Hiccup had found a dry patch of sturdy stone positioned over the gentle waterfall and sat down. He expectantly looked back at her, waiting with a sparkle in his eyes.

The water reflected a green tinge from the moss and forest, and his eyes shone even greener. Astrid knew she would be fighting a losing battle to refuse, and she couldn’t stand to see him disappointed, so she dropped herself down next to him. Hiccup looked immeasurably proud about it.

“A patrol errand you had to run, huh…” Astrid quoted. Hiccup laughed, bringing one knee up to his chest comfortably.

“Yep. Uh-huh. Super important patrol stuff. Viggo must be just dying to get his hands on all this… empty space,” Hiccup joked, putting on a deep, serious voice.

“Don’t forget the boars, too.”

“Oh, how could I forget the boars?” he dramatically exclaimed. Despite her every intention, Astrid was coaxed into a laugh alongside him. He was so good to her. Soon, her laughter quietened into a sound so sad she couldn’t bear to hear it.

Pressed thigh to thigh on the small rock platform, alone together under the filtered light and the soothing sound of running water– if she had any less self control, she might’ve cried. Why was he always so stupidly, painfully considerate? Why did he have to make this so hard for her? She thought things could stay the same.

Hiccup nudged her with his shoulder, full of understanding and patience.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but if something’s on your mind, you know you can always count on me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m sorry that you had to worry about me again,” he gently said.

“It wasn’t your fault, it was standard procedure… I don’t know why I…”

There was a knot in her throat, and she couldn’t meet his eye. All this time, it had just been easier not to think about it. Nothing had come of what they’d had before, and she’d always thought it would just magically happen when it was time. She didn’t want to lose him, she wanted him.

“You were just looking out for me,” Hiccup said, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “You always are. Thank you, Astrid.”

In a split second, her resolve broke. She threw herself at him, tightly hugging her arms around his middle and hiding her face in his shoulder. Hiccup was put off balance in his surprise, but recovered soon enough to hug her back, his hand steady and warm at her back.

She stayed there for a moment, breathing in deeply. Hiccup was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

And Astrid was in love with him.